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Winners

In this month's Around the Kitchen Table, Marci Konecny won a copy of Too Hot to Handle, a Fiona Silk Mystery by Mary Jane Maffini

Deb Forbes is the winner of the Mystery Lovers Kitchen tote bag from this month's Around the Kitchen Table

Congratulations to Autumn Trapani who won a copy of Mary Jane Maffini's TOO HOT TO HANDLE, a Fiona Silk Mystery.

Congratulations to Sharon F, who won a copy of For Cheddar or Worse, A Cheese Shop Mystery.

Congratulations to Marilyn, who has won a copy of Rhys Bowen's ON HER MAJESTY'S FRIGHTFULLY SECRET SERVICE!

Congratulations to MamaHen who won a choice of book from Daryl Wood Gerber aka Avery Aames.

Congratulations to our 7th Anniversary Photo Contest Winners: Jennifer M, Jana B, Erika L, Nancy S, and Lorraine A! Thanks to ALL for participating. What a blast!!! Here's to lots more years for the MLK gang.

Congratulations to Margo B.and Becky (at) Becky's Place who won gift cards for commenting on blogger Cozy Up with Kathy (Kaminski's) guest post.

Congratulations to 33Wynter who has won a copy of SOWED TO DEATH by Peg Cochran.Congratulations to Diane H. (profhollister at gmail dot com) who has won a copy of SOWED TO DEATH by Peg Cochran.Congratulations to Kelly Braun (Gaelicark at yahoo dot com) who has won a copy of No Farm, No Foul by Peg Cochran!Congratulations to Pat D.patdupuy(at)yahoo who has won a copy of SOWED TO DEATH by Peg Cochran

Congratulations to Judy Weaver, who's won a copy of KALE TO THE QUEEN by Nell Hampton (who is also Nancy Parra)!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

LUCY BURDETTE: Before I began
exploring the mysteries of Key West, I wrote two other series (as Roberta Isleib.) The second series, called the Advice Column series, starred Dr. Rebecca Butterman, a clinical psychologist and advice columnist living in
Connecticut. She worked out of an office in
New Haven (in the same building where I had my private practice,) and she
explored many of the places on the Connecticut shoreline that I'd
grown to know and love.

The first in the series, DEADLY ADVICE, was published in 2006, though it was
never converted to an e-book. Happily, the e-book version is now available!

Although this series is a little edgier than the food critic mysteries, the books are close to my heart
because they draw so much from my previous career as a psychologist. In a poignant coincidence, given the terrible news this week about Robin Williams, DEADLY ADVICE opens with the mysterious suicide of Dr. Butterman's neighbor. She feels doubly troubled about this death, thinking she should have noticed something was wrong--both as a professional and as a neighbor.

When Rebecca Butterman is troubled, she cooks. Like Hayley Snow in
the Key West mysteries, she loves to cook, to eat, and to share meals with her best women friends. But she doesn't think so much about the meaning of food the way food critic
Hayley does. She's too busy puzzling over what makes people tick...

In honor of the launch of DEADLY ADVICE as e-book, I'm happy to share
one of Dr. Butterman's favorite recipes, beef carbonnade. She would tell
you to start the dish the day before you plan to eat it so it can sit
in the refrigerator overnight, allowing the flavors to blend. She would also tell you that serving this meal to sad people might make their world a tiny bit brighter.

Ingredients

2 to 2 1/2 pounds beef cubes

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

one garlic clove minced

Four medium onions, thinly sliced

4-6 carrots, sliced (I use the bigger amount)

3 tablespoons of flour

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

10 ounces canned beef broth

12 ounce bottle good beer

one bay leaf

Saute the beef cubes in several tablespoons of olive oil until they are brown. You
will probably want to do this in batches, depending on the size of
your frying pan. While the beef is browning, sprinkle it with sea salt and
several generous grindings of fresh pepper.

Remove the beef to a large
pot and sauté the sliced onion in the same frying pan, adding oil
if needed. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 10 minutes
until the onions are soft and beginning to brown. Stir occasionally. Add
in the flour, mix well, and cook that for two minutes.

Meanwhile add the
vinegar, sugar, beef broth, beer, carrots, and the bay leaf to the pan
containing the browned beef. Bring back to a boil, add
the onions and mix well.

Cover this and cook on low heat for at least

two
hours. The beef should be tender and the sauce should be thickening. The
next day, skim any fat that has congealed. Then bring the stew to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer briefly.
Serve over egg noodles with green beans or a salad.

About Deadly Advice: Psychologist Dr. Rebecca Butterman specializes in offering snappy
relationship advice to lovelorn readers of Bloom! magazine. She rarely
stumbles when solving the troubles of Dazed in Dayton or Anxious in
Anchorage. But when her own husband double-crosses her and her next-door
neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Rebecca is left without
answers. While
writing a column on the modern singles scene, Rebecca finds herself
tracing her neighbor's steps into a dark dating world she never knew
existed. Can she trust her own perceptions, or will she succumb to
deadly advice?

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mysteries. As Roberta Isleib, she wrote the Advice Column mysteries and the Golf Lover's mystery series.

MURDER WITH GANACHE, the fourth Key West mystery, is in stores now. DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS will be out in December.